In fact, most tortoiseshell calico cats can be more accurately described as “tortoiseshell and white” or simply just “calico”. However, it’s a rather clumsy descriptive term. This post was originally written on Jand has since been updated.The term tortoiseshell calico cat usually refers to a tricolor female cat with patches of black, red and white fur. A tortoiseshell male cat: chromosome analysis and histologic examination of the testis. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 18(2), 169-180.

Age, breed designation, coat color, and coat pattern influenced the length of stay of cats at a no-kill shelter. Since the dilute gene is recessive, a dilute torbie cat is even more rare than the vibrantly colored torbie cats. With their combination tabby and tortoiseshell fur patterns, torbies are less common compared to their straightforward tabby and tortoiseshell counterparts. Torbies are not as common as other cat fur patterns

Photo: © Elle/.Ī torbie cat with d/d genes will have the combination of tortoiseshell and tabby coat patterns but those colors will be creams and blues instead of more vibrant fur coat colors. This was a lower average length of stay than the straightforward calicos, tortoiseshells, and tabbies which each averaged a similar length of stay well over 60 days.ĭilute torbies have less intense fur coat colors but still retain the tabby cat markings. The study found that torbies had the shortest average length of stay at 48.3 days. The average length of stay at the shelter for all cats was a little over two months at 61.2 days. One study, published in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science in 2014, looked at the average length of stay at a no-kill animal shelter for 5,659 between 20. Some estimates range from the chance of a torbie being male from 1 in 3,000 to 1 in 10,000. Tortie and torbie cats that are male are incredibly rare and are considered “ unicorn cats“. Torbies, as with all tortoiseshell cats, are almost entirely female.

The end effect is a striped or marbled cat with patches of a secondary color which is typically orange (or cream if the cat is a dilute torbie). All tabbies have a dark “M” marking on their forehead, “eyeliner” around the eyes, thin pencil strokes on the face, and banding around the legs and tail.Ī torbie with the “M” tabby forehead markings. Tabby cats are one of the most common fur patterns found on mixed breed domestic cats. Male tortoiseshell cats are a result of chromosome aberrations and have an extra X chromosome (XXY) that allows for the expression of the fur pattern. Male cats that are tortoiseshell are usually born sterile. Color combinations can be shades of orange, red, yellow, or cream with shades of dark brown or black fur.Īs with calico cats, tortoiseshell cats are almost exclusively female as the genes needed to produce this fur pattern lie on the X chromosome. Tortoiseshell cats are a combination of two colors other than white. Tortoiseshell cats get their name after the similarity of their coat pattern to a shell of a tortoise.

Torbie is a concatenation of the two words. Torbie cats are a mix of two different cat fur patterns: tortoiseshell and tabby. You may have heard of torties, short for tortoiseshell cats, but have you heard of torbie cats? What are torbie cats?

Tortoiseshell calico cat mix